The Syracuse Orange had the game taken to them in every facet on Friday evening in New Jersey when they fell to the Princeton Tigers, 11-7, to drop their second straight game against an Ivy League team.
Princeton overwhelmed the Orange right out of the gate, playing with superior intensity and physicality that helped them jump out to a 6-0 lead from which ‘Cuse never recovered. SU came out with a shocking and puzzling lack of intensity that essentially lost them the game in the first 20 minutes. They
actually outscored PU, 7-5, in the final 40 minutes, but Princeton’s defense made sure that any comeback attempt was suffocated out of existence.
The Tigers controlled the game throughout, even when the Orange were trying to claw their way back in. They were plus-two on face-offs (12-10), plus-10 on ground balls (32-22) and plus-12 on shots (52-40).
‘Cuse’s offense was swarmed early and flummoxed in the long run. In the first quarter, they struggled to get shots off as even connecting on passes proved to be difficult. They had the same number of turnovers as shots (5) in the opening frame as Princeton took a 5-0 lead. They would improve as the game went on but never solved all the different things the Tigers were throwing them on defense.
When they played straight up, no one on offense could win their matchup. When the Tigers slid, they did so aggressively to either cause turnovers or at the very least disrupt them enough to make sure ‘Cuse never got into any kind of rhythm with the ball. In the second half, they briefly switched to zone just to give another look. It kept the Orange guessing, unsure of what they were doing, and had them totally flustered all evening.
In the early going of the game, SU’s defense was chasing to keep up with Princeton’s quickness, both their foot speed and their ball movement. They also mucked it up with lots of big-little picks that helped them take control of GLE and the crease areas. The Orange defense eventually did a better job closing them off, but the early six-goal deficit combined with an offense that never fully got going was too much to overcome by that point.
Jimmy McCool was absolutely outstanding after a tough start with 17 saves and a .607 save percentage. He was especially excellent in the second half when he made 11 stops against only three goals (.786) to technically keep SU in the game. He did everything he could against one of the best offenses in the country.
The closest the offense got to starting something came in the second quarter when Luke Rhoa and Finn Thomson scored consecutive man-up goals that got SU on the board for the first time after going scoreless for nearly 24 minutes to begin the game. Michael Leo was able to find both with time-and-room for finishes on the back of solid man-up ball movement.
After a Princeton goal, Matt McIntee beat his shortie matchup from up top and ripped a nice lefty shot on the run for a goal, and Payton Anderson just beat the halftime clock as he dodged through three or four defenders for a finish as his stick got checked.
That finished off a stretch of six minutes to close the first half in which ‘Cuse went on a 4-2 run to make it an 8-4 halftime deficit, the closest they got all game after getting down by six early.
But the second half was a defensive grind after the Tigers scored six seconds in off the face-off. Anderson got his second running away from a double team and once again bodying through defenders for the Orange’s only tally of the third quarter, sending the game to the fourth with a 9-5 score.
Princeton scored the first two goals of the fourth, once and for all putting the game away before SU got a pair back late to make it an 11-7 final.
Michael Leo led the day with a goal and three assists, while Finn Thomson and Payton Anderson each had a pair of goals. Luke Rhoa and Matt McIntee each scored a goal, and that was it. Only five ‘Cuse players registered a point on offense as Joey Spallina was completely shut down by Jack Stahl for his first point-less game since his sophomore season. Joey only got three shots off and had three turnovers.
A massive question for this offense is are they capable of producing when Joey doesn’t have a big day as he hasn’t the last two games.
Johnny Mullen’s concerning stretch continued as he went 6-of-16 on face-offs including a lot of violations. Drew Angelo actually had the better day, going 4-of-6 in relief. Since starting the Maryland game 9-of-10, Mullen has now won only 21 of his last 51 face-offs the last two and a half games, a .412 win percentage.
The Orange have some real soul-searching to do, and very little time in which to do it. They’ll head to Philadelphia to face Penn in the back end of the ACC-Ivy challenge on Sunday at 12 PM on ESPN+.
